Payments News Update – January 9, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: How Payments Will Evolve: 6 Industry Trends to Watch in 2026
Payments Dive – January 6, 2026
The payments industry has been evolving at a dizzying pace in recent years, and that’s not expected to let up this year.
Industry change is likely to revolve around regulatory dynamics in 2026. On the federal front, regulators will assert new authority in creating a framework for stablecoins, following passage of the Genius Act last year. Conversely, states are expected to step up oversight of emerging payment plays, such as buy now, pay later and earned wage access.
The courts and the Federal Reserve may also play important roles this year in resetting the thinking on card interchange fees as they weigh in on pending issues. . . .
Consumer Groups Attack Card Settlement
Payments Dive – January 6, 2026
Five consumer and business advocacy groups are among those challenging a proposed settlement to end decades of antitrust litigation with Visa and Mastercard over the card networks’ interchange fees.
Changes from the prior proposal, which a court rejected in June 2024, “are too insubstantial and too susceptible to undermining by Visa, Mastercard, and card issuers to work effectively and thus are unlikely to meaningfully address the excessive fees and lack of competition that characterize the interchange fee system,” the groups wrote.
The groups include the American Economic Liberties Project, Consumer Reports, Demand Progress Education Fund, Small Business Majority and U.S. Public Interest Research Group. . . .
Judge Orders Trump Administration to Continue to Seek Funding for the CFPB
NPR– December 30, 2025
A federal district court judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration must continue to seek funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, a watchdog agency the administration has been trying to dismantle through staffing and funding cuts.
The administration recently made a legal argument that because the agency gets its funding from the Federal Reserve, and since the Fed is technically operating at a loss, there are no valid funds for the CFPB.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected the argument, writing that this “would be tantamount to closing what is left of the Bureau.” This upholds an earlier injunction from Jackson to ensure the agency would continue to exist as congressionally mandated, and to stop efforts to shutter the CFPB, including through layoffs. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Pay by Bank Gains Take but Card Rewards Keep Loyalty
PYMNTS – January 5, 2026
Pay by bank is no longer an unfamiliar concept in U.S. payments, but it has yet to earn a permanent place in consumers’ daily spending habits.
The payment method, which allows consumers to move money directly from their bank accounts to merchants without using cards, has reached a meaningful trial phase. A PYMNTS Intelligence report done in collaboration with Trustly finds 3 in 10 U.S. consumers have used pay by bank in the past year.
Yet despite that exposure, the method still accounts for just 1.5% of all consumer retail transactions, underscoring how far adoption has to go. . . .
JPMorgan Chase Reaches Deal to Take Over Apple Credit Card
The Wall Street Journal – January 7, 2026 (subscription may be required)
JPMorgan Chase has reached a deal to take over the Apple credit-card program from Goldman Sachs, further cementing JPMorgan’s status as a behemoth in the credit-card sector and marking the final chapter of Goldman’s failed experiment in consumer lending.
The biggest bank in the country will become the new issuer of the tech-giant’s credit card, one of the largest co-branded programs with some $20 billion in balances.
The sides, which had been negotiating for more than a year, announced the deal Wednesday confirming an earlier report in The Wall Street Journal. . . .
How Non-Payments Became Big Business at Visa and Mastercard
American Banker – January 7, 2026 (subscription may be required)
Visa and Mastercard ended 2025 with a series of partnership deals with third parties to support mobile wallets around the world. The partnerships were partly designed to take advantage of regulatory pressure on Apple over the technology giant’s control over mobile payments.
But the card networks are facing pressure of their own through regulatory scrutiny, legal battles with merchants over fees and the growth of card alternatives, forcing the companies to find other ways to make money.
“Partnerships aren’t just important; they’re essential to Mastercard’s strategy,” Eimear Creaven, president of global partnerships at Mastercard, told American Banker. “In a world of evolving payment models, rapid tech advances, regulatory shifts and changing consumer expectations, collaboration with fintech, big tech and traditional financial institutions lets us connect cards, accounts, wallets and real-time rails.” . . .
How Bots, Banking and Stablecoins Will Dominate Fintech in 2026
Bloomberg – December 30, 2025 (subscription may be required)
The crypto wins many predicted for 2025 didn’t fully materialize. But while Bitcoin is ending the year in the red, firms across the broader digital-finance landscape have been making a methodical push into the heart of the US banking system.
After a year of regulatory triumphs, industry leaders are betting that 2026 could mark a major inflection point.
Crypto firms are trading state licenses for national charters, payments giants are rewiring their rails for blockchain settlement, and artificial intelligence agents are inching closer to autonomous payments. . . .